This blog is a forum for Mentor High School Honors English 12 students to engage in book discussions based on free reading books.

Monday, October 25, 2010

Flowers in the Attic by V.C. Andrews

The story is the first of its series and is narrarws by Cathy Dollanger, who 12 years old and is the second of four children. She has an older brother, Chris, and her other brother and sister are 5-year old twins, Cory and Carrie. They live with their mother and father until their father dies in a car accident and they are forced to move into their mother's old house. Their mother, Corrine, has abusive parents and the only way her mother agrees to let them stay in the house is if the children stay hidden. The children are locked in the attic and the next day their mother returns and had been badly whipped by her mother, Olivia, who explaines to the children that their parents were half-uncle and niece; their father had been Malcom, Corrine father's, half-brother. If Corrine has any hope of getting her father's approval, the existence of the children must be kept secret. They are told that they must remain in seclusion until Malcom's death. At first Corrine brings them expensive gifts and promises them a bright future, but she eventually stops coming to visit them. They are all verbally and emotionally abused by their grandmother, who tells them that they are "the devil's spawn" and "an abomination in the eyes of the Lord." She often threatens them with horrible physical punishment if they disobey her rules. As Chris and Cathy hit puberty, they begin to become curious about their body changes. Chris walks in on Cathy naked and begins to tell her how she is becoming very beautiful. He later rapes her out of a jealous rage. They are both ashamed and embarrassed, but continue to love eachother. Cory becomes mysteriously sick and eventually dies and Cathy and Christ devise a plan to escape. Chris overhears a butler say how he found arsenic poisoned food to kill the mice, but he knew the food was being used on them, and is what killed Cory. They finally escape, and learn that it is their mother who poisoned them, and not their grandmother. They also learn that in Malcom's will it was stated that if found out that Corrine had any children with her half-uncle, then she would be disinherited, and they learn that Malcom had died 9 months ago. they toy momentarily with going to the police, but decide against it as they did not want to be seperated from eachother and be placed in foster home. They plan to travel to Florida. At the time of their escape, chris is nearly 18 years old, Cathy is 15 years old, and Carrie is 8 years old. Cathy, the one who felt betrayed by her mother the most, vows to herself that she has only temporarily given up her thoughts of justice and revenge against her mother and grandmother, and she will see it through one day.

1. Do you think you would be able to live locked in an attic for three years without communication to the outside world? How do you think it would affect your personality and views on life?

2. Do you think tha the Dollanger children made the right decision in deciding not to go to the police? What would you do if you were in this situation?

3. If you were in this situation, do you think it would more difficult to just move on and forget about the past or get revenge for what was done?

3 comments:

I think it would be impossible to be kept locked away for such an extreme amount of time. By being secluded I believe it would be tough to be emotionally attached to anything except the other siblings thus making me an inverted person. The correct decision would have been to go to the police, but under the circumstances, if I did not know any better it would be tough to leave the only place I had ever been allowed to be apart of.

I think i would have a very hard time living in an attic for three years. But I'm sure somehow i could do it. It would be hard, and i would hate it but oh-well. Being locked up i would become a person that only relied on her siblings, and not trust anyone else. but im really not sure what would happen, i you never know till it happens to you. I would of went to the police because its the right thing to do and i think over time i would move on( even though it would be very hard) :)

i agree, i think you would have to make the best with what you have and try to deal with it the best you can. i also think it would be hard to move on and going to the police might make it worse because you would have to relive it, but it would be the right thing so the decision would be hard